


Of All The Things My Eyes Have Seen

by theshipsfirstmate



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, season 4 spec, souffle spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-11
Updated: 2015-09-11
Packaged: 2018-04-20 06:46:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4777481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theshipsfirstmate/pseuds/theshipsfirstmate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Season 4 ficlet, based on that most recent trailer. Because somebody's gotta find that ring.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of All The Things My Eyes Have Seen

_A/N: Because I’m a sap, because[ Bre ](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Bre/pseuds/Bre)encouraged the idea, because [MachaSWicket](http://archiveofourown.org/users/MachaSWicket/pseuds/MachaSWicket) saw the future (and must now be glorified in all souffle/proposal fic), and because somebody’s gotta find that ring, right?_

**Of All The Things My Eyes Have Seen**

It might be eight o’clock on a Monday morning, but you couldn’t wipe the smile from Chuck McCown’s face if you tried. He can’t count the number of days he’s been on the job, the number of hours he’s logged to keep the self-owned plumbing business afloat, but today feels like a brand new start. Because today’s the first day that Josh is headed out with him,

Josh, who had surprised them all last week by crawling out of the den of sweat sock and pot smoke stench that was his bedroom and announcing that he wanted to learn the family business. It’s not the son Chuck would have guessed would take over, and if he’s honest, not the one he would have picked. But Toby’s collar is more white than blue and Sam’s always been too neurotic about germs.

Plus, for whatever reason, Josh _wants_ to be here. The swell of pride cuts through the early morning, the bad gas station coffee, the twinge in Chuck’s bad knee. It just about makes every day he’s spent with his arm half-buried in a toilet tank worthwhile. Still, he hopes this first house is an easy one.

“Ready?”

His 18-year-old tosses the hair from his eyes and grins. “Let’s do it.”

Josh grabs the snake and toolbox from the back of the truck, and Chuck marvels that even that’s easier already. They reach the porch and he knocks as Josh slips the protective booties on over his Chuck Taylors. When the door opens, there’s a pretty blonde ball of sunshine on the other side.

“Hi there!” Her cheerfulness is just a little false, but only one of them is fooled.

“Hi, I’m Josh!” Chuck nearly snorts at the high pitch of his kid’s voice, the way he dopily reaches a gloved hand out to try and shake the girl’s hand. Her unconscious reaction makes him think better of it and pull back, settling for a dorky wave.

“Here to take a look at the sink, ma’am,” Chuck nods as Josh blushes bright red. The blonde just smiles warmly at them both.  “I’m Chuck, this is my son. Josh.”

“Of course, thanks so much for so coming,” she casts a glance into the house behind her, and Chuck notices that she looks just a tiny bit nervous under the smile. “You came very highly recommended by the uh, the Kopermans next door. You’re certainly prompt!”

“Felicity, I…” He hears the man’s voice before he sees him coming down the stairs.  “Who’s this?”

“Chuck and Josh are here to take a look at the sink,” the blonde answers. “The garbage disposal’s been rattling.”

The man’s brow furrows. He hadn’t noticed. Typical handsome douchebag, Chuck thinks with a grimace he tries his hardest to suppress.

“He cooks, I wash,” the blonde surprises him with a grin that’s not at all ashamed. In fact it’s more directed at her pine tree of a man, who Chuck thinks is deliberately staying a few steps up to keep the higher ground. It’s hard to say who’s protecting who, really.

He’s seen that look maybe a hundred times before, on a hundred different husbands. He makes a mental note to explain it to Josh when they’re on their way to the next job. What it looks like when the man of the house finds out that the woman went behind his back and called someone to fix something. It’s a tenuous line of contentious masculinity they walk sometimes, Chuck thinks, not enough people appreciate that aspect of the job.

Then the man’s eyes go wide and wild and it’s not the look Chuck recognizes. He looks kind of familiar, maybe a politician or something, but right then, he just looks panicked.

“Felicity, _no_.”

“They’re already here,” the blonde shushes him absently, like she was expecting this reaction. “And you were supposed to be gone a half-hour ago.”

“I can fix this.” The man’s persistent, but there’s no anger in his voice, in fact his eyes only seem to soften when he looks at her. Felicity, Chucks muses. It’s fitting.

“Yes, well, so can they,” she says, matter-of-fact. “And besides, it’s not like we have…time to do anything about it. “ The blonde’s eyes dart to Chuck and Josh somewhat suspiciously. She plays it off by directing them. “It’s the sink in the kitchen, guys.”

 _“Oliver, go,”_ he hears Felicity says forcefully, as they make their way to the adjacent room. The man sighs one last time with what Chuck thinks might be a little too much regret. But he does go.

“Sorry about that,” Felicity turns, a little sheepish once Oliver is out the door.

“Not a problem,” Chuck assures. “Disposal’s the issue?” She nods gratefully, flipping a switch by the doorway and yep, that’s not a good sound.

“Take a look-see, Josh,” he instructs his son, grabbing the snake from him and setting it down so the dirty end angles down into the larger sink basin. “Don’t forget to…”

“I’m unhooking the thing, right now dad, jeez.” They’ll have to work on the attitude, but at least he’s not gonna lose any fingers on the first day.

Josh is in the disposal for maybe ten seconds when his eyes light up.

“Oh yeah, there’s something stuck on the uh, whoosher thing.” Yeah, they’ll work on that too.

Felicity hasn’t gone far, and she steps into the kitchen, looking up from a tablet at the announcement. Josh twists his arm a little, then pulls it out, clutching a handful of what looks like gold and diamonds.

“It’s a…”

“ _Ring_.” The word comes out like Felicity’s never said it before. It’s pretty clear she hasn’t _seen_ it before, based on how her eyes widen. “It’s a ring?”

“It sure is,” Josh marvels, running the sink and rinsing the metal band under the water. Chuck only grimaces a little when his son polishes it up on his shirt before handing it to her.

“It’s quite a ring, ma’am,” Chuck says softly, not wanting to snap her out of the sort-of trance she’s gone into. He’s fished dozens of rings out of dozens of pipes. But he’s never seen something like this. He’s never seen anyone look at anything the way she’s looking at that ring right now. Like it’s her every wish come true, but also, like she never thought she’d have it.

“It sure is,” she echoes, unable to look up at them.

“He, um…” Felicity’s voice cracks a little and she motions blindly to the front door like Oliver’s still behind it. “Is there any way we can make it so I didn’t see it? Like, you guys fixed the problem, but I didn’t…know?”

Chuck purses his lips tight for the second time since they arrived, but this time he feels a tear prick at the corner of his eye. There’s something about these two, he can’t quite put his finger on it. She’s young and beautiful, they both are, but they’re weary and wary like it’s been a long and difficult road to this house in the suburbs where her not-yet-engagement ring somehow ends up in the garbage disposal.

But before he can answer her rhetorical – and slightly hysterical– question, she’s talking again.

“No, that won’t work,” she laughs, pressing the back of her hand to her forehead. “Of course that won’t work.”

Josh tests the disposal again, just to be sure, and grabs the toolbox. Felicity follows them as they head for the door, but the bubbly blonde sees to be having a hard time finding her words. She’s back to just staring at the ring, with eyes that go wide when Chuck interrupts her thoughts.

“First one’s on the house,” he tells her, ignoring the way his son’s jaw drops behind her. “Just call us again if you need us.”

“We will.” Felicity clears her throat and smiles up at him, brighter than ever. “We definitely will.”

They walk out the front door, and what’s really crazy is Oliver actually _is_ still behind it. He’s just standing on the porch like he’s been waiting, and when the three of them step outside, he doesn’t see Chuck or Josh at all, even for a second. The two of them are locked on to each other in an instant.

“You didn’t go,” Felicity says, more whisper than accusation, but Oliver shakes his head like he’s done something wrong.

Anything but typical, Chuck thinks as he and Josh nod silent goodbyes and head for the truck.

“The night with the souffles?” he hears Felicity ask as they toss the gear in the back. He doesn’t know what it means, why she knows, or how the first proposal got waylaid, but the heaviness in her voice and the scratch in his when he answers in the affirmative tells him enough.

“Are they all that awkward?” Josh asks as they climb in the truck. “I mean, I thought it’d be weird enough to look at someone which you’re elbow-deep in their shit, but…”

“No they’re not all that awkward,” Chuck interrupts with a smile. “And they’re definitely not all free.”

“That was some ring,” Josh muses and Chuck wonders if his son is thinking of someone specific. “What do you think happened?”

“Doesn’t matter how it ended up.” Chuck watches in the rear-view mirror as the Oliver sweeps Felicity into an embrace that lasts until the truck turns the corner. “That ring’ll be on her finger soon enough.”

_A/N: this feels slightly unfinished, but I am le tired. Perhaps a follow-up?_


End file.
